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ADDRESS 



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OF 



CHARLES A. KEYES 



Delivered at the Thirty-Third 
Annual Picnic Given by the 



OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY 



OF 



Sangamon County 



TTFTiT) AJr 



PAWNEE, THURSDAY, AUG. 14, 1900 



Filled With Historic References; 
Stories of Hardships Endured by 
Pioneers; Their Pleasures Vivid- 
ly Recalled. 



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Address of Charles A. Keyes. 



As early as the year 1720 the French government had, 
through its missionaries, Marquette, La Salle, Pinet and others, 
and by its military power, established a complete line of commu- 
nication from Quebec, in lower Canada, by way of the great 
northern lakes through what is now Illinois, down the Mississippi 
river to the Gulf of Mexico. 

In fact this vast and fertile stretch. of country was under 
the dominion of France until the treaty of 1763, at which time 
it (which is now an empire within itself), together with the 
Canadas, became an appendage to the British crown, and after- 
wards, in 1765, the English government, through its officer, 
Captain Sterling, took possession of what is Illinois. 

France, generous France, our friend, had nothing left be- 
tween the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the northern lakes and 
the Gulf of Mexico, save its possessions west of the Mississippi 
river, which were afterwards purchased by the Great Jefferson, 
and in 1803 became a part of the United States and which we all 
now know as the Louisana purchase. 

France today has not one foot of soil in North America. 
The glory of her conquests has departed, and the great Missis- 
sippi valley and the Louisiana purchase are a powerful integral 
part of the great Western republic. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

France had hardly surrendered her possessions in the Can- 
adas and the Mississippi valley until were heard the low, distant 
rumbling of the coming revolution; the thirteen American colo- 
nies declared their independence of Great Britain, the first blow 
Avas struck and the war of the revolution was on. 

During that great trying struggle for free government the 
colony of Virginia sent Col. George Rogers Clarke (afterward 
General Clarke), in command of a detachment of militia into the 
territor.y northwest of the river Ohio, to take possession thereof. 

COL. CLARKE'S VICTORIES. 
Colonel Clarke marched with his forces into the territory, 
attacked and reduced forts Kaskaskia and Gates and then turned 
his attention to the reduction of Fort Vincent, and easily took the 
same. Prior to the expedition of Colonel Clarke the colony of 
Virginia claimed the territory northwest of the river Ohio 
(afterward known as the northwest territory), by her charter 



granted by James the First of England, but after the successful 
expedition of Cokmel Clarke she clai»nied the territory by con- 
quest as well as by treaty. 

This vast territory extended from the river Ohio to the 
^•reat northern lakes and west to the Mississippi river, and was 
named by Virginia the county of Illinois. Would not a board of 
supervisors now have a time of it in legislating for the county of 
Illinois 1 

THE CESSION LAWS. 

When the revolution was over and the government of the 
United States had been formed and the Virginia colony had be- 
come an honored State of the Union, the congress passed an act 
on the 6th day of September, 1780, recommending to the several 
states of the Union, having claims to waste and unappropriated 
lands, in the western country, a liberal cessiix)n to the United 
States of a portion of their respective claims for the common 
benefit of the Union, and thereupon the State of Virginia did, by 
an act of the general assembly, passed on the 2d day of January, 
1781, yield to the congress of the United States, for the benefit of 
the said States, all right, title and claim which the said State had 
to the territory northwest of the river Ohio; and afterward 
came the acts of the general assembly of the commonwealth of 
Virginia, passed on the 20th day of October, 1873, authorizing 
Thomas Jefit'erson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Mon- 
roe, delegates representing said commonwealth in congress, to 
convey, transfer, assign and make over unto the United States, 
for the benefit of said States (Virginia included), all right, title 
and claim, as well as of soil as of jurisdiction, which the said 
commonwealth had to the territory northwest of the river Ohio, 

The deed was made by Jefferson, Hardy, Lee and Monroe. 
Was there ever such another deed made, and by such characters? 
Was there ever such another made where the makers were so de- 
void of selfish motives ? 

Was there ever such another deed made where the results 
arising therefrom were so great and far-reaching? 

FIVE GREAT STATES. 
Within the confines of this vast territory there have been 
carved five great States of the Union. 

These States, now with a population, perhaps, of sixteen 
million people, having a vast and varied commerce, studded with 
great and splendid cities, sustaining the most gigantic system 
of railways of any country in the world, and guarding and 
cherishing a school system which is at least equal to any. This 
growth, change, advancement and prosperity has come within 
two hundred years. 



By the ordinance of July 13, 1787, congress provided for 
the government of the territory of the United States northwest 
of Ohio. 

May 7, 1800, an act of congress provided for the organiza- 
tion of a territorial government to be called Ohio. Nov. 29, 
1802, Ohio was admitted into the Union as a state. Indiana was 
erected into a separate territory, and the provisions of the ordi- 
nance of 1787 extended over the same on the seventh day of 
May, 1800. It was admitted into the Union, Dec. 11, 1816. 

ILLINOIS TERRITORY. 

Illinois was erected into a separate territory and the pro- 
visions of said ordinance extended over the same Feb. 3, 1809, 
and was admitted into the Union as a State Dec. 3, 1818. 

In the act passed by congress April 18, 1818, to enable the 
people of the Illinois territory to form a constitution and state 
government, and for the admission of such State into the Union, 
certain propositions were submitted to the convention then in 
session and framing a constituti<on for the state of Illinois, 
which, if accepted by the convention, were to be obligatory upon 
the United States. 

LAND GRANTS ASKED FOR. 

1. Section 16 of land in every township in the State should 
be granted to the State for the use of the inhabitants of such 
townships, for the use of schools. 

2. All salt springs within the State and the land reserved 
for the use of the same, should be granted to the State, for the 
use of the State. 

3. Five pr cent of the net proceeds of the lands lying 
wiithin such state and which shall be sold by congress from and 
after the first day of January, 1819, after deducting all expenses 
incident to the same shall be reserved for the purposes follow- 
ing: Two-fifths to be disbursed under the direction of congress, 
in making roads leading to the State; the residue to be appropri- 
ated by the legislature of the State for the encouragement of 
learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed 
on a college or university. 

4. Th;rty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall 
be designated by the president of the United States, shall be re- 
served for the use of a seminary of learning. 

The foregoing propositions were offered on the condition 
that the State convention, then in session, would provide by ov- 
dinance, irrevocable, without consent of the United States from 
and after the first day of January, 1819, should remain exempt 
from any tax laid by order or under the authority of the State, 
county or township, for the period of five years from and after 



6 

the sale, and that the county lands granted, or thereafter to be 
granted for military services during the late war (the war of 
1812) should remain exempt from all taxes for the term of three 
years and that all lands belonging to the citizens of the United 
States residing without the State should never be taxed higher 
than lands belonging to persons residing therein. 

The convention accepted the propositions by ordinance 
passed on the 18th day of April, 1818. 

A SPLENDID DONATION. 
What a magnificent donation on the part of congress, 
given with the view of bringing about a general system of educa- 
tion throughout the now great State of Illinois. Yet it must be 
said that these donations have not been used and disposed of m 
such a manner as conduced to the best interest of the cause of 
education. 

When the State came into the Union in 181b, the County 
of Sangamon had not been erected. It was not until the year 
1821 that the "Sangamo country," as it was called, became the 
county of Sangamon. 

Out of Sangamon county since its formation have been 
carved from time to time the following counties and parts of 
counties : Logan, Tazewell, Mason, Menard, Cass, part of Chris- 
tian, part of Macon, part of McLean, part of Woodford, part of 
Marshall and part of Putnam. 

SANGAMON AN EMPIRE. 

Old Sangamon in territory was an empire. If Virginia is 
the "mother of presidents," the County of Sangamon is the 
' ' mother of counties. ' ' 

Take Sangamon and the other counties mentioned, as they 
now are, with their vast well tilled fertile lands, there can be pro- 
duced from them, in one good crop year, sufficient meats and 
breadstuffs to supply the people of Chicago for one year, and 
from their cities, villages and farms there can be funrnished and 
equipped fifty thousand fighting men, for a just cause. 

Less than one hundred years ago, the Sangamon country 
was practically a wilderness, with no inhabitants, save the In- 
dian, the elk, the buffalo, the American deer, the black bear, the 
panther, the wolf, the wild cat, the wild horse, the wild turkey 
and the prairie chicken. The gentleman fox, both the gray and 
red, delayed their coming to the Sangamo country until the time 
of an advanced civilization. 

Now in this year 1900 there are no Indians, no wild beasts, 
no wild turkeys, no prairie chickens. The coming of the white 
man has left no room for them. The doom of the North Ameri- 
can Indian, as well as that of the wild beasts, is extinction. . 



EARLY SETTLERS' HARDSHIPS. 
The coming of the early settlers to the Saxigamo country 
was attended with many hardships to the men and women, more 
especially to the women. They traversed a wilderness without 
guide or compass, save the stars. Many times they were lost in 
the dense timber or upon the vast prairies, without shelter from 
the drenching rains and cold blasts; they were oftentimes with- 
out water and could find it at times in no other way than by let- 
ting loose their horses or cattle and following them, which by 
either their instinct or their acute sense of smell would go to the 
river even if it was ten miles distant. The pestiferous horse flies 
would compel them to travel by night, and lay by i^n the day time 
and build fires, in the smoke of which the stock would stand, well 
knowing the protection it afforded them from the flies. Their 
means of transportation were not always adequate. Members 
of the party would take turns in walking and riding; then at 
times a horse or steer would die. A greater calamity could 
hardly come ; the lost animal could not be replaced. 

HOW A FAMILY CAME. 
An old pioneer, in telling how his wife, himself and two 
children traveled on their way to the Sangamo country, said that 
the wife, with a child in her arms, was placed upon a horse, with 
a bed and bed clothing, and upon another the cooking utensils, 
with two chairs; hi^mself and child were mounted, and thus 
equipped, their caravan moved along the trackless prairies to 
their future home, north of the Sangamon. 

PRIVATIONS AFTER ARRIVAL. 
The hardships and privations of the early settler were not 
ended upon his arrival to his place of destination. A cabin had 
to be built to shelter the wife and children, ground had to be 
cleared in the timber before a crop could be raised ; the tough 
prairie sod could not be broken with the plows and teams then at 
hand, hence the ground for the crops was prepared in the timber. 
There were no mills, either saw or grist, nearer than Edwards- 
ville, eighty miles away, to which place the settler had to go with 
his grist to have it ground. The women and children were left 
at home, awaiting the return of the husband; their vigils were 
long and weary. It required brave women to stand guard on 
such occasions over the children and home, for the Indians then 
possessed the country, the wolf roamed the prairies and the 
panther stealthily awaited his prey. Often sickness came to the 
household, and sometimes death. What greater sadness could 
come to the heart of the mother than the loss of her child, in the 
wilderness, she then, perhaps, more than 1,000 miles from her old 
home and her people? 



8 

STRONGEST MAN LEADER. 

The men who settled Sangamon county were hardy per- 
sons, strong physically and mentally. With them at that early 
day physical strength marked the leading man, and there was 
many a combat between powerful men to decide which was en- 
titled to be leader. To illustrate how generally the idea pre- 
vailed that the strongest man was the one entitled to lead, I will 
give an example: The Buckles family lived in the Lake Fork 
region. The men were powerful and combative, especially Mr. 
Jerry Buckles. He heard that Andrew McCormick, who lived 
at Sprin'gfield, was a powerful man and had exhibited such 
strength and prowess that he was acknowledged to be the leader. 
Buckles decided that he would go to Springfield, hunt up 
McCormick and challenge him to combat. Buckles came and he 
found McCormick standing on the pavement in front of the old 
Glenn tavern. 'Is your name McCormick?" asked Buckles. 
' ' Yes, ' ' replied McCormick. ' ' I understand, ' ' said Buckles, ' ' that 
you consider yourself the best man in Sangamon county and can 
whip anyone. I believe that I am a better man than you are, and 
I can whip you.' McCormick replied that he was not a fighting 
man and said to Buckles to go away and not bother him. Buckles 
persisted that they should fight; thereupon McCormick seized 
him and threw him over a horse rack into the street. Buckles 
got up and said : ' ' That will do ; you are the best man. Let us go 
and take a drink." They drank and shook hands, and Buckles 
departed for the Lake Fork region. 

It is said that Buckles, upon hiis arrival home, had nothing 
to say of his fight, but nevertheless the fame of McCormick be- 
came known throughout all the countryside around. McCor- 
mick was afterward elected to the legislature, and was one of the 
"long nine" who caused the removal of the capitol from Vandalia 
to Springfield. 

WAS A WONDROUS SIGHT. 
Those old settlers who first beheld the prairies of Illinois, 
stretching far away, adorned with brilliant and variegated flow- 
ers, must have stood enraptured at the wondrous sight, and when 
afterwards they witnessed a prairie fire at night moving with the 
swiftness of the racehorse, the flames mounting as high as the 
billows of the ocean, whipped by the winds, the sky and earth 
around as bright as day, the deer running before the fire for their 
lives, they must have witnessed the grand and wonderful sight 
with awe. 

A DEER HUNT. 
The early settlers had their pleasures, as well as their 
hardships. They of a neighborhood would come together with 



their horses, guns and dogs, for a deer hunt. It would be about 
sunrise when all would be at the meet. Some of the younger, 
who were good shots, would be placed by their elders upon a 
stand, and there await the eomi,1ig of the deer ; the others would 
mount their horses and with their guns and dogs move out to the 
starting point. On reaching the point the dogs scattered in dif- 
ferent directions with their noses to the ground— the hunt had 
commenced. Soon one of the dogs would strike a trail. If the 
trail was not new he would bay gently, yet all the other dogs that 
heard him would turn towards him and hunt for the trail. The 
moment the second dog struck the trail he would bay, so with all 
the other dogs, as they in turn struck the trail, and then would 
come the full cry of the whole pack, and on they come, horsemen 
and dogs in full pursuit, and as the trail became hotter, the louder 
and more frequent the baying of the dogs and the more excited 
became the horsemen. 

Sometimes the stag would pass the stand of one who was 
a good shot, and from the unerring bullet of the rifle the stag 
would fall, and the hunt was over. At other times the game, 
plucky stag, would elude all the stands and continue on in his 
marvelous flight, with horsemen and dogs in hot and wild pur- 
suit. The chase would prove too fierce and pressing for the 
frightened and exhausted deer, the shot from the gun of some 
horseman would bring him to the ground, or the dogs, made more 
feroci.ous from their eagerness and long run, with their glaring 
eyes and open mouths, would rush upon their exhausted prey 
and bring it to the earth, the horsemen would come up, the deer 
was dispatched by the use of a knife, the chase was over, and the 
sun setting in the western sky. The spoils of the hunt were 
then allotted and each hunter bent his way homeward. 

OLD-TIME PARTIES. 

Again, they would have parties, men and women, at which 
they would truly and greatly enjoy themselves. There was no 
slighting of one another. At such parties their fri^endship was 
genuine and sincere, and then they would have their church meet- 
ings at the home of this neighbor or that one. Some parson who 
had wandered out into the great western wilds, like a missionary, 
would preach to them, and they sang old fami^liar songs, such as 
"On Jordon's Stormy Bands I Stand and Cast a Wistful Eye," 
These church meetings gave them great comfort and consolation. 

HAVE PASSED AWAY. 

Most of the old settlers have passed away; they have 

crossed the river. Their names are perpetuated by their deeds 

and their descendants. Who does not know the Enoses, the 

Jaynes, the Bergens, the Drennans, the Halls, the Matheneys, the 



10 



stouts the Brittons, the Pulliams, the Barretts the S^^iths the 
nuro'ns the Parkinsons, the lies, the Canipbells, the Bra^- 
fords th^ MUlers, the Matthews, the Carpenters, the Brooks, e 
Fa^ans th^ kelleys, the Hessers, the llerndons, the Logans, the 
^Slers the Pa fiis, the Gardners, the Dunlaps, the Freemans, 
^.e T ivlors the Grimsleys, the Elkins, the Constants, the Coun- 
cUs th^D rSes, the Easleys, the Pyles, the Burt es, the T^U 
hrtls the Casses the Dawsons, the Days, the Dodds, the Dan- 
t if' he Gattons the Knotts, the Kalbs, the Doziers, the 
Mauk^s the Sedans, the Jar'retts, the Staleys, the S.ms the 
Jones the Browns, the Lyma^s^ the B-ckeWges the J ebe^s 
the Masons, the Cantralls, the Prnnms, the Bal s, the Chiids me 
Sir the Watts, the Sanders, the Hawleys, the Yates, the Da- 
"the Eplers, the Purvines, the Ridgelys, the I™, the 
MeDa'niels, the Nottinghams, the Norths^^the D--^-^*,^^^^;^^ 
coxes the AVychoffs, the Yoakums, the Iseals, the Stattoids, tne 
St Glairs the Browns, the Yv^alters, the Coopers, the Lasswells, 
the A^amM^^^ Brewers, the Bridges, the McCoys, the Fullen- 
vdders the Carters, the Crouches, the Edwards, the A¥memans, 
IhfKe's^rrs, the Abies, the Pattons the Conklh^^^^^^^^^^^ Wsa^, 
the Lanphiers, the Youngs, the Hathaways, the Po^^ers, tlit iaiK 
n"t.nrthe Seotts, the La^bs, the Shepards, the Spiers h 
Gi-ers the McLouds, the Wises, the Pickrells, the Elliotts the 
ilayes; the Francises, the Southwicks, the Bolins and the Insleys. 

THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 

The old pioneer preachers must not be forgotten on an oc- 
casion like the present. ^ 

It is an historical fact that the honey bee came to the San- 
eamo country just before the coming of the white man and tha^ 
?hrquai came just after the white man. Perhaps the bees came 
b fo^to provide a supply of wild honey for the pioneer preach- 
ers to eat,'^as John the Baptist had often eaten wi d honey whiie 
he was preaching in the wilderness of Judea^ And P^^ haps the 

quail came after as the quail "eame ^P '^f .^^^'^^^.tYJl of 
for Israel to feed upon" as they marched from the land ot 

^^^Tt may be that the quail came to the Sangamo country for the 
pioneer preachers to feed upon until the coming of the yellow- 

^'^^Therf was' Peter Cartwright, who did eat wild honey and 
quail and told his camp-meeting congregation to wait until ne 
made the devil pray; he left the pulpit, ^^^^^d ajowdy who was 
disturbing the meeting, and whipped him until he P^f f • ^ou 
can almost yet hear the gentte voice of Hooper Crews calling 
sinnexs to repentence, and the Rev. John G. Bergen preaching 
Presbyteri^nism in the wilderness, and Aaron Vandevei, ttic 



11 

iron-side Baptist," thundering in the ears of sinners that the 
only way to be saved Avas by water, and you can see, in your 
niind's eye, the Rev. Hale standing and calling to his auditors to 
come to Jesus Christ and be saved, and there is Father Hamilton 
pointing his communicants to the cross and saying to them, 
through the blood of Christ you must be saved. Then comes 
Jonathan Stamper. He is preaching at a revi,val with great 
force and eloquence ; he is depicting to his hearers hell ; it is lim- 
itless, bottomless, a lake of brimstone and fire ; figuratively he is 
shaking the sinner over the burning abyss. It is needless to say 
that his revivals were always a success. 

MARRIED WITHOUT LICENSE. 
There stands the Rev. Rivers Corrnick, wdio married Ed- 
ward Clark to Sarah Viney, without a license, March 4, 1821 ; 
afterwards Avhen the county of Sangamon had been formed, 
April 10, 1821, he remarried Edward and Sarah. 

The presiding elder is to preach. The Rev. Peter Akers is 
in the pulpit. He is the defender of the faith ; he is to promul- 
gat the doctrine. With great power and clearness he states 
what are the tenets of the Methodist church, and with a learning 
and argument unsurpassed he defends those tenets or doctrines 
of the church. 

NoAv comes the Rev. Stribbling, last but not least, he who 
is addicted to the use of big words so strange and unmeaning to 
the ears of the plain, simple people of his congregation. He 
approaches, in the evening, the house of a brother of the faith, 
for shelter and care for himself and horse; he is cordially wel- 
comed; the boy is sent to take his horse and rig. The Rev. 
Stribling says to the boy: "Youth, disengage the quadruped from 
the vehicle, divest him of his trappings, conduct him to the re- 
ceptacle Avhere he may drink his fill of the waters, then repair 
with him to a place of shelter, and give to him for his meal In- 
dian maize, with cured grass, commonly called hay. 

The time for his sermon comes, the church is crowded, the 
Rev. Stribbling delivers one of his characteristic discourses. The 
words and sayyigs are too profound for his listeners ; they wonder 
at his great knowledge. 

It may be said of the reverend gentleman, as the poet 
Goldsmith said of his brother, the teacher: 

"While words of learned length and thundering sound, 
Amazed the gazing rusti/ss ranged around — 
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, 
That one small head should carry all he knew. ' ' 
These reverend gentlemen have been gathered to their 

fathers. 

Here permit me to say something about the tribe of Kickapoo 

Indians, 



12 

THE HOME OF THE KICKAPOOS. 



The Lands of the Kickapoos, as Given and Described 
BY Perry J. Armstrong in his History of the North- 
western Indians. 

The lands of the Kickapoos, as given and described by Perry 
J. Armstrong in his history of the Northwestern Indians. 

The Sacs and Foxes owned land commencing on the Missis- 
sippi River, at the mouth of the Illinois river, running thence up 
the Illinois River to where Fort Clark then stood, where the city 
of Peoria now stands; thence in a direct line to a point on the 
Wisconsin River, seventy miles above its mouth ; thence down 
that river to the Mississippi, and down the Mississippi to the place 
of beginning, besides the entire State of Iowa and northeastern 
Missouri, containing the aggregate of about fifty millions acres 
of land. 

The Sauks' had a small village near the mouth of the Des 
^Moines River, in Iowa, and the Foxes a similar one on the south 
side of the Mississippi, where the city of Moline now stands. 

To the north and east of then' possessions were the teri'i- 
tories of the Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes, and adjoining 
them were the lands of the Chippewas and Ottawas, while to the 
south laid the lands of the Kickapoos. 

The Kickapoos and the Mascoutins are treated here as but 
one tribe, for the difference between them was only nominal at 
best, The name is found written in the French Authorities as 
"Kick-a-poux," " Kick-a-pous, " "Kick-a-bou," " Quick-a-pous. " 
Some authorities claim the name to have been derived from the 
Algonquin word Nee-gig (the otter, or the spirit of an otter). 
Prof. Henry R. Schoolcraft, a recognized authority on the ethnol- 
ogy of the northwestern tribes, alluding to the Kickapoos, says 
they are an "eratic" race, who under various names, in connec- 
tion with the Sacs and Foxes, have in good keeping with one of 
their many names, which is said, by one interpretation, to mean 
Rabbits Ghost (Wahboos with little variation in dialect being the 
word for Rabbits), skipped over half the continent, to the mani- 
fest discomfort of both German and American philologists who, 
in searching for the so-called Mascoutens, have followed, so far 
as their results are concerned, an "ignis fatuus. " 

Mr. Beckwith says in his book of the History of the North- 
west Indian that the Kickapoos have been long connected with 
the histoiy of the northwest, in which they acquired great no- 
toriety as well for the wars in which they were engaged ^vith 
other tribes, as for the persistent hostilities to the white race 
throughout a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years. 

From Fox River, AVis., the Kickapoos seem to have passed to 
the south, extending themselves in the direction of Rock River 



13 

and a southern trend at Lake IMiehigau. Prior to 1718 they had 
a village on Rock River, in the vicinity of Chicago. They 
hated the French Missionaries, and took several of them prison- 
ers. Later, and by progressive approaches, the Kiekapoos 
worked further southward and established themselves in the ter- 
ritory lying between the Illinois and the Wabash Rivers, and 
south of Kankakee. 

The migration was not accomplished without opposition and 
bloodshed in punishing the Piankeshous east and south to the 
M^ abash, and the Illinois tribes south and west upon the lower wa- 
ters of the Kaskaskia. The Kiekapoos approached the Wabash 
from the northwest. It is evident that prior to 1752 they had 
driven the Illinois tribes from the hunting grounds lying east- 
ward and south of the Illinois River. 

In this conquest they were assisted by the Sacs and Foxes 
and Pottawattamies. Within the limits of the territory defined 
by the treaty at Edwardsville in 1819, the Kiekapoos. for genera- 
tions before that time, had many villages. The principal of these 
were Kickapogooni on the western bank of the Wabash, near 
Hudsonville, Crawford Co., Illinois, and known in the early days 
of the northwest territory as Musquiton (Mascuntine), another 
on both sides of the Vermillion River at its conliuence to the 
Wabash, higher up the Vermillion were other Kickapoo towns, 
particularly the one some four miles west of Danville. The re- 
mains of one of the most extensive burial grounds in the W^abash 
Valley still attest the magnitude of this once populous Indian 
city, and although the village cite has been in cultivation for over 
fifty years, every recurring year the plow share turns up flint 
arrow points, stone axes, gam flints, gun locks, knives, silver 
brooches, or other mementoes- of its former inhabitants. These 
people were greatly attached to the country watered by the Ver- 
million and its tributaries ; and Governor Harrison found a diffi- 
cult task to reconcile them to ceding it away. During the period 
when the territory west of the Mississippi belonged to Spain, her 
subjects residing at St. Louis "carried on a considerable trade 
among the Indians eastward of the Mississippi, particularly the 
Kiekapoos". 

Further northward they had other villages, among them one 
toward the headwaters of Sugar Creek, a tributary of Sanga- 
mon Riiver near the southwest corner of McLean County (this 
village was burned in the fall of 1812 by a part of Governor Ed- 
ward's forces, while on their march from Camp Russell to Peoria 
Lake). "Vide Gov. Reynolds My Own Times". 

"In the month of August, 1791, the expedition, led by Gen. 
James Wilkinson, left Kentuckj^ under orders given by Governor 
Sinclair (then the executive head of the military, as well as of the 
civil affairs of the northwest territory)." We find the follow- 
ing: "Should the success attend you at L'Anguile" (the Eel 



14 

River town on Eel River, some six miles above Logansport, In- 
diana, which was to be attacked), which I wish and hope you ma> 
find yourself equal to the attacking the Kickapoo town situated 
in the prairie not far from Sangamon River, which empties itself 
into the Illinois River. The General did reach the great Kickapoo 
town, but not the prairie village near the Sangamon River. Mr. 
Peck, in his historical sketch of the early American settlements in 
Illinois, says: "The Kickapoos were numerous and warlike, and 
had their principal towns on the Illinois and the Vermillion Riv- 
ers. They were the most formidable and dangerous neighbors to 
the whites and, for a number of years, kept the settlements (on 
the American bottoms) in continual alarm." In the desperate 
plans of Tecumthe, the Kickapoos took an active part. 

"We find no instance in which the Kickapoos were allied 
with either the French or the British in any of the intrigues or 
wars for the control of the fur trade or the acquisition of dis- 
puted territories in the northwest. They did not mix or mingle 
their blood with French or other white people, and as compared 
in this regard with other tribes in the voluminous treaties with 
the Federal Government there is a singular absence of land reser- 
vations of half bred Kickapoos. As compared with other Indians, 
the Kickapoos were industrious, intelligent, and cleanly in their 
habits, and were better armed and clothed. ' ' 

As a rule, the men were tall, sinewy, and active ; the women 
lithe, and many of them by no means lacking in beauty. 

Governor Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois. 

With the close of the war of 1812 the Kickapoos ceased their 
hostility towards the whites, and a few years later disposed of the 
residue of their lands in Illinois and in Indian, and, with the ex- 
ception of a few bands, emigrated west of the Mississippi. 

Governor Reynolds says of them, "they disliked the United 
States so much that they decided when they left Illinois that they 
would not reside within the limits of our government, but would 
settle in Texas ; a large body of them did go to Texas, and when 
the lone star republic became a member of the Federal Govern- 
ment these Kickapoos retired to New Mexico, and later some of 
them went over to Old Mexico. 

The Kickapoos of the Vermilion and the Sangamon Rivers 
were the last to emigrate— in 1832 and 1833— when they joined 
a body of their people upon the reservation set apart for their use 
near Fort Leavenworth. 

For several years prior to the years 1832-1833 the Kickapoos, 
or rather those who were left of them after others had left Illi- 
nois, made their home upon the lands bordering upon the Sanga- 
mon River, and Salt Creek, which flows into the Sangamon a 
short distance below the City of Petersburg. 

They built a village were ]\Iiddletown now stands on the 
banks of Salt Creek, in Logan County. There are traces of their 



15 

camps up and down the Sangamon River and Salt Creek. Their 
camping places seem to have been generally located upon elevated 
ground, for to this day the Indian stone axes, tiint arrow points, 
and pieces of pottery are found upon elevated pieces of ground, 
and in close proximity with the streams of water such as the San- 
gamon River, Salt Creek, Sugar Creek, Spring Creek, Lake Fork, 
Lick Creek and other streams. 

They may have had a burial place at a point on the Sanga- 
mon River north of the mill known as the Carpenter Mill, for in 
excavating and cutting dowTi a hill on the north side of the San- 
gamon to be used for the purposes of a road some sixteen skele- 
tons were discovered and supposed to be the remains of Kickapoo 
Indians, and the supposition was that at some time that had been 
one of their burying places. 

During the last years of their residence here they were per- 
fectly friendly with the white settlers, and committed no depreda- 
tions. It was after the year 1832 that they gathered together their 
wigwam plunder, together with their squaws, ponies and dogs, 
and left the bottoms of the Sangamon forever and turned their 
faces to the country west of the Mississippi. Of this once numer- 
ous, powerful and warlike Indian tribe there are now not more 
than fifty remaining, and they are living in the Indian Territory 
upon the bounty of friendly Indians. 

OLD SETTLERS GAINED FAME. 

Many of the old settlers of Sangamon county became dis- 
tinguished men in politics, in the pulpit, in the law, in medicine, 
in mercantile pursuits and farming. 

The fame of Lincoln, Douglas and Baker is world-wide. 
There were no lawyers in the State who excelled in ability and 
tact Stephen T. Logan, John T. Stuart and Josiah Lambourne, 
and right abrest with them were Milton Hay, Benjamin S. Ed- 
wards, Ninian W. Edwards, Elliott B. Herndon, my old pre- 
ceptor, William H. Herndon, William I. Ferguson, David Logan, 
Thomas A. Bradford, David B, Campbell, Antrim Campbell, 
Jonathan H. Pugh, James C. Conkling, Silas W. Robbins, Wil- 
liam J. Black and John Calhoun. 

I think it can truthfully be said of John Calhoun that in 
point of particular and general education he was the peer of 
any, and in political debate, Lincoln, Logan, Baker and Stuart 
had on more than one occasion cause to feel and know his power, 
and Judge Samuel H. Treat was one of them. The political 
combats of those early days were fierce and long. The struggle 
in 1838 between Stephen A. Douglas and Major John T. Stuart 
for a seat in congi'ess was long and bitter. 



16 

SOME EARLY POLITICS. 



, liill ^ 

014 649 862 O 



Dr. Jacob Early, David Prickett, Rev. Aaron Vandever and 
James W. Keyes, as delegates to the Democratic convention, held 
at Peoria in 1838, went to said convention and brought about 
the nomination of Douglas. Major Stuart was the Whig candi- 
date opposed to him. The congressional district was known 
as the Third, and extended from Greene county to Lake Michi- 
gan. The length of the campaign was six months. The two 
candidates traveled together and held joint debates. They lived 
at Springfield and no other two men in the district had more 
earnest, devoted and unselfish friends than they. The fight was 
more than terrific. Before the election was over all hands were 
called into the field to take part — Lincoln, Logan, Bledsoe and 
the young Whig gentry, together with the late Richard W. 
Thompson, of Indiana, held up the hands of Stuart, and John 
Calhoun, the Rev. Vandever and the young bare-footed Democ- 
racy held up those of Douglas. The election was had and Doug- 
las was beaten sixteen votes, but from that time on Douglas was 
the leader of the Democracy of Illinois. 

LABORS NEARLY DONE. 

The old pi,oneers, where are they? Passed to the beyond, 
except a few who are still here, but their faces are turned to- 
ward the setting sun. You can see them v/alking slowly in the 
lengthening shadows, their labors are drawing to a close; they 
will soon see the light that is beyond the skies. 



